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Neatness, VS Slob

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DJ:

I saw 3 main problems leading to my collection...

1st, I am way too sentimental.
I was raised by my grandmother and still had so much of her furniture and things.  She valued everything she had and it was drummed into me as a kid.  I thought I had to keep all that stuff because it was grans and she was so particular about it.  I knew I could never use it and I literally had tears as I broke up the old dressing tables etc. It wasn't valuable, I checked, it was pretty cheap stuff but not having a lot, to her it was very expensive.

I took someone's advise and photographed it all before I got rid of it.  There was so much. I even had all the old cutlery.
After a bit I did get to thinking what she would say. I remember her saying over and over. " When I go you can do what you like with it but while I'm still here you look after everything"  I thought some more and her being a neatness freak would have probably told me I was mad for keeping it, get rid of it, it's old and out of date and you'll never use it.  Which was why it did have to go.

There was stuff there that was my inlaws as well which -I- had kept even though my wife had told me to get rid of it.
Had to offload everything that we didn't have a place for. Thought I would be upset  and while I'm a little sad, it's more about thinking about the times gone by not the things.


2nd problem was as mentioned above..... I see value in crap.

I had looked for things for years for projects and when I found them, I thought they are expensive/ hard to find/ I need that.
Of course I never had either everything I needed for said project or I never found the time.  In the end I was looking at so much I never knew I had and wondering WTF I even bothered keeping it for and what I had in mind at the time??  Things I did recal the ideas for I had largely moved along.
Wasn't all easy. I had crates of lawn mower engine parts. Probably well over 1/4 ton of them.  Can't get them now, stopped making them in 1984 but I spent so much time working on them and loved them.

When wheeling all these crates out to the trailer my daughter stopped me and said "Dad, are you really ever going to bother with these things again? You haven't done one in years, do you need them? How about taking one and ditch the rest. we don't ned to take all this crap with us. "  I could see the thought of it was upsetting her. At first the idea of getting rid of it was abhorrent but then she went on a bit about the clutter and how it had affected the rest of the family and I think that was when the penny dropped and the horrific realisation set in. 
At first I did put them in the trailer thinking they were all too good to throw out but then her words were ringing in my head and I came to my senses.

We were loading stuff and I started pushing the crates out. She asked what I was doing and I said you are right bubba, I won't use them, it's something from the past that has no future for me, these go in the scrap. I could see she was happy but probably saw my stress at the same time.  Anyway, it ALL went bar the things like rings, gaskets, seals etc that fitted into a Double shoebox size container. I reasoned this with if I ever did want another one I could get it and had the parts to fix it.  She was happy with that. Scrap guy asked IF I had a lawnmower shop or something? When I said no he said he had never seen that amount of parts come out of one handymans shed before. I said you have never seen anyone that lost their mind as bad as me is what you mean.

I had old heat exchangers and other car parts for things I'll never want to own again and so much more. I found a broken step stool. I remember, that came from my first job I ever had as a kid. The thing was still broken! So I finally fixed the bastard after having it 35+ years and FINALLY, the thing HAS come in handy.  Took longer to find the tools than actually fix it but it's done and at last being used.  Was about the only thing though!

3rd thing, I'm freaking lazy in some areas, maybe the hoarding thing.
Old cardboard boxes and broken stuff that I meant to throw out but never did. I think this was a combination of I'll do it later ( when I have a trailer load) and never wanting to throw things out.  Again, so much that I stopped and looked and thought WTF was I thinking?  I will say though that I had help. Spose when you get in the habit others follow. Wife would bring stuff up and put it there for disposal and it would get packed up and then built up.
She got this bad habit of getting boxes from the grocery store to put things in then putting them on the back table. They would somehow get up the shed " to put things in" which I never did of course.

She gets a hard time any time she brings a box home now. They usually end up back in her car. I tell her, re use them or YOU get rid of the damn things.
There is a LOT of cardboard up the shed now from new fridges, bedroom suites etc that has to go and I have found cardboard Dumpster bins in the area for it. I am holding onto it for the moment though as floor coverings for painting which we are doing. It is better than drop sheets I think. This is BIG boxes not fruitbox size.

 I also found loads of things in the crap at the old place Friends had given me. When they realise you are a nut case and will keep everything, I think you get a good place to offload their crap and they probably think they are doing something you'll like.
My brother in law gave me a hand cleaning up as well as endless and unhelpful grief.  He came across all this old computer stuff and was asking why I kept this. I said that's all stuff you gave me a few years ago from your work and I never got round to looking at it. He denied he gave it to me till I pointed out some things with his company name on them.  I said either you gave it to me or I stole it and as I have never been there and you never told me of a robbery, that kinda narrows it down some. I got a bit of a let up then.
Funny thing is, he has probably more crap than anyone else I know. Nothing near my level but out of the sane people, definitely the leader in "reserve" items in his shed and around.


Biggest disposal problem I see here is vegetation.
There is a LOT of crap in the garden we want to get rid of ( with a tractor) and I have yet to work out where all these unwanted and difficult to dispose of plants are going to go. They are hardy things and I see most chippers/ mulchers mention them specifically as being too tough and fibrous to shred.
Can't burn anything here and the local  " recycling facility " wants nearly $300 a ton to take green waste.... which they process and sell back to landscapers for half as much again. I have heard though that they won't take this stuff and has to be disposed of as landfill at a higher rate still.
I might have to see if I can hire an industrial Chipper for the stuff. Surely If they can process trees they can process some plants.

I still have stuff up the back to go through and get rid of but It's easy now. I'm motivated to get rid of not keep.
I really don't know where I got the junk bug from. My father is ruthless in what he gets rid of. He hates anything old and even updates his perfectly working vacuum cleaner because it's old (6 yrs) and he wants the new modern one. I'll never find an antique when he goes that's for sure.  He has a wrecking yard that must be the neatest around. People comment on it all the time. Even the scrap metal guy. Says he goes to places where their is stuff everywhere but everything Dad has is neat and tidy and there is one area that the scrap goes it and that's it.  He gets inspected by the council now and then but they really don't bother. Guy comes in, has a chat and that's it. He came last year when I was there. Dad says just come round the back when you want. Guy says why?  There is nothing there for me to look at the same as there is nothing out  here. Been there before, no need to check again.

All my mates are pretty neat, never seen any of them have much clutter and they complain about what they do have. 

Don't know where I went nuts with what I had or why I just can't keep things neat even now but at least I have made huge reforms and am determined never to loose my mind like that again.

David HK:
This article needs just one sentence -



"At least you know where everything is."


Dave

hiker1:
My neighbor was into hoarding big time....he worked at a local newspaper for awhile and brought home all the unsold papers...that and pop.beer ..cans...he would sit for hours each day and crush cans ..then bag them..I alway thought he brought them to the recycle center..to make a few bucks...his old cars would be stuffed with old news papers and bags of cans..well he passed on awhile back..great guy...well his brother came up from outa state....what a surprise he got when he opened up the house...all floors were stacked from floor to ceiling with old news papers and bags of cans...I offered to help clean up...man what a job ! His brother had to get the city. Dump to come buy and drop off one of those huge trash containers..filled that numerous times...well his brother made out good..all those cans ended up being big bucks ....more than paid for his flight up and back...tossed a few my way as well...well now there's no sign of old Arnie..house gone ..land leveled off trees and all...rest in peace old man....

DJ:
It must be a terrible sickness to be like that.  Thank heavens I wasn't that far gone.

My neighbour was similar. Every yellow pages edition since they printed them I think. bags of bottle tops and the sugar, salt and pepper sachets from Macca's. Shopping bags and bags full of it.  I think she had the top off every bottle of milk she ever bought and on it went. 

She fell in the shower and took 3 days to get to the phone to call for help.  Cops couldn't get in. I knew the front door was impenetrable with the stuff stacked against it. She would knock on my door at 3am asking me to come in and chase away the intruder living in her ceiling. I'd have to get up there to convince her there was no one. I also knew the way the back door was locked and the only way to get in was kick the thing off it's hinges which the lady cop and slightly smaller male partner failed to do.  I booted the thing clean out the door frame and they found her naked in the loungeroom and not in a good way having net eaten or drank anything for 3+ days. 
Took her to hospital and the last time I saw her was trying to reassure her she would be OK in the back of the ambulance and they were not going to hurt her or rob her house.  Then I went and fied what was left of the old back door. 

At the hospital they found she had very advanced cancer right through her body and were amazed she was not in dire pain. It did explain her recent " Unusual" claims of people living in the roof and her ex husbands dead wife haunting her. She only lasted barely a week and was gone. She fretted in hospital and wouldn't eat, not that it made much difference to the inevitable. She couldn't walk but just wanted to be back home.

The retired age children sold the old house which was demolished and a monstrosity of a place that bore no resemblance to the plans was illegally built by the parasite whom bought the place. He pushed me beyond my breaking point till I literally physically bashed him and took out one of his scumbag workers after he nearly caused my daughter to be injured in an accident his tight arse corner cutting and flouting of the rules bought about.
 He did nothing about it in the end despite his threats as he ran away bleeding. I called my solicitor mates and sat there waiting for the cops to arrive but they never came because he must of worked out that bringing heat on me would put him under the microscope and he'd be worse off.

I sure missed my hermit crazy old lady neighbour then.



There is a woman here that makes the news about every 3 years. She lives in a very expensive seaside area and as soon as the council serve her with orders to clean up, which she does not and they come and clean her out, again, she's back at turning the place literally into a rubbish dump.
It's been going on for years and she has been fined and on the brink of being sold up to pay for clean-ups and fines numerous times but at the last second, always seems to come up with the significant cash to pay her way to starting another $#!+ fight.

There is no other explanation than mental illness. You cannot be sane, fill the place like a tip, clean it up and do it again without remorse unless you are not in charge of your full mind.

Only thing that seems to upset this poor woman is when they throw out her rotting garbage. Neighbours say within a week they see her bringing piles of stuff back in again.  Must take some effort just to carry it all back to her place. She has tens of tons of it every time.

I enjoyed myself doing some tidying up today.
We brought too much crap here still but I am sorting through it and making space in my shed where all the stuff sits from the move.
I realised today I have made a fair bit of space, it's just not organised but when I get that shelving up and can start putting stuff on it, there will be even more pace and some things will look good in their place. Thinking I might make a bit of a lean to round the back for the more unsightly bits of metal and other things I do want but can be outside.

hiker1:
I still plan on ...tossing a few truck loads of ..what I don't know ..kids used the old shop for storage.and never come back for it..so out it goes..along with..the rest of the ..stuff..never used ..never needed.!  That and a few cars.truck..ILE never fix !..just looked around one day..with eyes wide open.and thought.this junk is outa here!! Never was a hoarder..just that stuff adds up over 35+ years !  I'm 64 now...would like to go out with a clean slate....miss old Arnie alright..every day you would see him with his wheelbarrow going throu the alleys collecting cans..you could tell he wasn't quite right in the head..but always had a smile on his face...when we went to clean out his house..we found a little gas heater he used for heat..he lived down in the basement...no running water or elect, not sure how he survived down their in the winter....well good luck with yours..sorry Bj if I went off subject........

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